"As some of you may be aware, one of the great passions in my life is model building and for the last eighteen months or so I have been contributing to Science Fiction and Fantasy Modeller magazine. For those of you who are not aware of the publication, to call it a magazine is a bit of a misnomer as, with its 100 full colour, square bound, pages it is more like a book published on a quarterly basis.
I must admit that I had not done any serious writing since school days (way back in the mists of time, when dinosaurs still walked the earth) other than the odd report for work, so I was a little unsure about chronicling my modelling exploits when first approached by Mike Reccia, and even more unsure that my modelling skills were up to scrutiny. Anyway, I must have been doing something right, as Mike was soon asking me to make even more contributions on a regular basis. Then, one autumn day last year Mike asked me if I would like to write a book on model making with an emphasis on diorama building. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather, but I quickly agreed: not quite realising what I had let myself in for.
So, for the last twelve months I have been building models and writing up my exploits in a, hopefully, entertaining manner. The endeavour has probably taken an average of twenty hours a week input on top of the day job to complete, and whilst beavering away on my lonesome the end product of a complete book seemed to be an almost unreal goal. However, the end is now nigh with most of my work done and the final formatting being completed by the publishers prior to publication in February. To say that I am excited by the prospect of the book’s publication and relief that it’s complete is an understatement.
Whilst, ostensibly, a “how to” book I hope that I have created a fun read and that whatever level your modelling skills are you will find something of interest in the book. My intention with the book has never been to say how to build a particular model, but to try and give the reader some ideas and encouragement to have a go at doing something themselves. Most of all, this is meant to be a pleasurable past-time and I want people to view model making as something fun to do and not something to get stressed out over: we all have enough of that in our lives anyway.
I will just finish my witterings by saying that the book will be 128 pages long, in full colour, and will go on sale in February (an ideal Valentine’s gift for your loved one) at a price of £14.99. However, if you pre-order from the publisher before the end of January it is being offered at a price of £13.99 including postage to the UK and Europe, or £16.99 to anywhere else in the world. The book should also be available from good model shops or other retailers that order from Diamond Distributers, i.e. Forbidden Planet. The publisher’s website is here.
Many thanks for reading, Barry Ford"
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